“Bahais in Iran enjoy all citizenship rights and are not expelled from universities”

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, has issued his annual report, which as usual catalogues numerous abuses against diverse groups in Iranian society, and against the population as a whole. The report states that “[Iran’s] culturally relativistic positions on human rights result in broad restrictions on fundamental rights and limit who can enjoy those rights on the basis of gender, ethnicity, ideology, political opinion, religion or culture.” In a break with the past, the Iranian government has responded to a draft version of this report, and the Special Rapporteur has incorporated these responses in his final report.

In the section on the oppression of the Bahai community in Iran, the rapporteur notes “an escalating pattern of systematic human rights violations targeting members of the Baha’i community, who face arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, national security charges for active involvement in religious affairs, restrictions on religious practice, denial of higher education, obstacles to State employment and abuses within schools.”

The Iranian government responds that “Baha’is enjoy all citizenship rights and that they are not expelled from universities or otherwise deprived of their rights on the basis of their beliefs.”